Sendai virus is robust and consistent in delivering genes into human pancreatic cancer cells.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is highly intratumorally heterogeneous and has several subtypes. Effective gene delivery to all PDAC cells is essential for modulating gene expression and identifying potential gene-based therapeutic targets in PDAC. Most current gene delivery systems for pancreatic cells are optimized for islet or acinar cells. Lentiviral vectors are the current main gene delivery vectors for PDAC, but their transduction efficiencies vary depending on pancreatic cell type, and are especially poor for the classical subtype of PDAC cells from both primary tumors and cell lines. Herein, we systemically compare transduction efficiencies of glycoprotein G of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV-G)-pseudotyped lentiviral and Sendai viral vectors in human normal pancreatic ductal and PDAC cells. We find that the Sendai viral vector gives the most robust gene delivery efficiency regardless of PDAC cell type. Therefore, we propose using Sendai viral vectors for transducing ectopic genes into PDAC cells.